This week's riots in Britain have reminded us that human nature is a volatile thing. As former Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher once put it, "The veneer of civilization is very thin."

Man is a fallen being, yet capable of great nobility of character. The Bible's teachings about man had an especially profound affect on the Founders as they considered how imperfect men could govern themselves.

Although they affirmed human fallenness, they also affirmed human dignity. If persons are made in God's image and likeness, then they have value before Him which should be honored by those political powers He ordains to govern them.

"Through the Judeo-Christian tradition, human rights are rooted in the moral worth with which a loving Creator has endowed each human life," writes scholar A. James Reichley, "and social authority is legitimized by making it answerable to transcendent moral law."

This cannot be understated. Without a grounding in biblical revelation and natural law, which is itself reliant on a belief in communicated transcendent truth, we have no basis for proclaiming human uniqueness and dignity.

"Religious liberty is a divine right, immediately derived from the Supreme Being, without the intervention of any created authority," New Hampshire preacher Israel Evans proclaimed in 1791. The same can be said for the rights to life and property, and the "pursuit of happiness," as articulated in our Declaration of Independence.

At the Family Research Council, we work to strengthen the veneer of which Mrs. Thatcher spoke through advancing measures that encourage faith, family, and freedom. For the sake of civilization, we believe there can few more important works.